Influenza is always around and spreading, you can catch it at any time, but it spreads faster and easier in the winter due to the weather. Viruses can survive longer on surfaces when its cold. It doesn’t need to be imported because its already here. This flu season will likely be better than usual, as people are taking hygiene more seriously, and more people are wearing masks.
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I’m not sure that it isn’t here now - that’s why I said “endemic”. What makes you think that it isn’t here already?
The CDC seems to publish weekly reports about this, but I can’t be bothered going through them in detail at the moment. 
So, it’s always here. People carry it with mild or no symptoms outside of winter flu season, yeah? Then it gets bad and kills people.
It kills people all the time, not just in flu season. More people die in flu season because more people catch it
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Now I’m worried. Shouldn’t we all get tested for that?
I thought I read NZ basically more or less eliminated the flu this year. Why would it be any different here?
We’ll find out over the next couple of months. It will be interesting.
My prediction is there will be virtually no flu. Others think flu hangs around through summer and then reappears.
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Marginally relevant, but on the Taiwan news last night there was something about a couple of elderly South Koreans who died not long after getting this year’s flu shot.
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Elderly people often die.
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I haven’t caught a single respiratory bug of any sort since the mask rule was enacted on public transport.
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I rode the MRT a few days ago and at least three people were coughing in the car that I was in. I’m fine if the mask requirement never goes away for public transport.
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To be blunt, passenger airline traffic isnt exactly the only way people can apread contagious viruses. To think so, means one should just listen to the cdc and try not to publicly give advice. It is here, and everywhere. It exists on the rquator where there is not winter. People should think about why people get sick in winter deeply. Has a lot to do with human behviour, more than one might think.
Taiwan is rabies free. But once in a while some random mountain mammal comes out positive. Its a good habit to be into that humans arent as smart as we seem on tv. Lots of unknowns, and safe to assume we dont have all the answers.
Shouldn’t that be considered rabies free then? Those two things seem inconsistent…
EXACTLY!
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Yeah the “rabies free” status (as seen from Germany perspective) was scrapped a while ago. Unfortunately. It was super easy to get dogs from Taiwan to Germany a few years ago, since Taiwan was considered rabies free then …